INTERVIEW
Follow UsOnly one cricketer in the current Tamil Nadu set-up was alive when they last won the Ranji Trophy in the 1987-88 season.
Including Ravichandran Ashwin, the entire squad has only heard tales of their historic campaign, and none were at an age when they could watch parts of it. Any other team might still live with the fact that they won the Ranji Trophy, but not for a prestigious state such as Tamil Nadu.
After all, it is a state that takes great pride in the fact that they have won multiple white-ball trophies. However, the fact that the elusive Ranji Trophy is missing from their modern-day cabinet has been the biggest talking point whenever the side takes the field.
Last season, the management even went to the extent of roping in serial winner Sulakshan Kulkarni, only for his relationship with the team to turn sour, as he threw the skipper Sai Kishore under the bus.
Also Read: Sai Kishore's Tamil Nadu bear the fruit of a seed that was sowed last year
Someone who knows the Tamil Nadu cricketing culture and has previously been part of the system, both as a player and from his time as a coach with Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG), Hemang Badani didn’t shy away from criticising the ‘under-performers’.
“At one point, I felt that Tamil Nadu cricket had stagnated because many underperforming players were given longer ropes,” Hemang Badani opened up in an explosive interview with Cricket.com on the sidelines of his stint at Legends League Cricket.
“There should have been a time when they should have moved on to the next batch, which I think has finally happened now. It should have happened at least 4-5 years ago. But I think more than anything else, if Tamil Nadu has to win a championship, what they have to do is straightforward.”
What’s that, you may ask?
“As long as you don't get fast bowlers, you're not winning a Ranji Trophy,” Badani broke it down to one crystalised point.
Over the last eight years (since 2016), only four pacers have picked up 50 wickets for Tamil Nadu—Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, T Natarajan, Sandeep Warrier, and M Mohammed—and only two of them have survived the test of time.
“I say this simply because the Ranji Trophy is played between November and February. Those are the months when India generally gets a bit cooler, and you're not necessarily only playing games at home,” he said.
“You're playing in the West, the East, the North, and the Centre, which are all much cooler areas of India. There is seam movement and some swing movement available.”
While it is true that the conditions in Tamil Nadu, be it the Chepauk Stadium or the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science Ground (SNR), don’t encourage pacers, the conditions away from home often for Tamil Nadu is filled with seam and swing-friendly conditions.
Last year, for example, Tamil Nadu only played three away games, out of which they could only win one (against Goa). But when they had to battle Mumbai on probably the greenest of patches at the Bandra Kurla Complex, they succumbed under the pressure of Mumbai’s pacers in the first hour of semi-final play.
Mumbai pacers reduced Tamil Nadu to 17/4, which later turned into 42/5, only to be eventually bowled out for a paltry score of 146, unable to play the lateral movement that was there on offer. And, when their turn came, the three pacers weren’t as effective as the skipper Kishore, who picked up a six-fer, as they lost by an innings and 70 runs.
That’s where Badani feels that Tamil Nadu would need more help from their pacers.
“But if you go back in the last 20-odd years, apart from Lakshmipathy Balaji, there has not been one fast bowler from Tamil Nadu. There is no repute in fast bowling in Tamil Nadu at all. You don't even have two guys whom I have the confidence to say, ‘You know what, these are the guys who will pick wickets for me. These are the guys who will give me early wickets in the match.’
Over the years, Tamil Nadu have barely had a pacer who has been a threatening force to the opponents with the new ball. Even the ones who have had an impact, like Natarajan, have all been broken down with multiple injuries, restricting their red-ball careers. The only hope has been for Warrier, who moved from Kerala to Tamil Nadu, to shoulder the responsibility.
“I don't have that confidence. Unless Tamil Nadu, as a state, takes that seriously, winning the championship [Ranji Trophy] is not going to be easy. I would love for them to win as early as possible. But this is a big area of concern for me,” he added.
It is true that Tamil Nadu made it to the semi-final stage of last year’s Ranji Trophy but have been knocked out in the early stages multiple times over the last eight years. Badani, who was part of Tamil Nadu’s setup until 2007, doesn’t see that as big an ‘achievement’ like the others.
“Tamil Nadu qualified for the semi-finals last year after seven years. That wasn't the case when we played. I'm not necessarily saying we won trophies. But qualification was a given. We at least qualified for the quarters, the semis and then the finals. That also is something that they have to look into seriously. What I also saw last year was that the minute we qualified, it became a big thing that we qualified,” Badani said with disappointment on his face.
“For me, it was a norm earlier. Qualification was a norm. You did not think of qualification to be a big thing. And I think Tamil Nadu has to go back to that. They need to qualify every year. They need to keep getting into that part of the tournament every year and not be jubilant about just qualification.”
‘Sai is ready for India if you ask me’
If you ignore their dismal fortunes, you will notice how valuable a 27-year-old Sai Kishore is to the Tamil Nadu setup. While he has always been a vital cog of the bowling setup, in the past few years, he was elevated to the role of leading the side.
It resulted in him bringing out his best-ever Ranji Trophy season, scalping 53 wickets, the most for any bowler in the 2023/24 edition. But even such a strong performance hasn’t put him any close to India’s red-ball setup, and more recently, he was also ignored for the Rest of India’s setup for the Irani Trophy.
What does Badani, who has seen Kishore's growth from their coach-player days at CSG, have to say about the left-arm spinner?
“Yes, there is a Manav Suthar waiting. There is a Saurabh Kumar who has already played for India A but hasn't found a spot on the Indian side right now. Prior to that, you already have a Ravindra Jadeja and an Axar Patel,” he said.
“So, Sai [Kishore] has to wait. Sai is skilled. Sai is ready [to play for India] if you ask me.”
How does someone stay motivated when chances are not knocking on their door?
“The challenge is that when you have so many players with similar skill sets, you have to wait. But the only message to Sai, and I keep speaking to him every now and then quite regularly, is that what's in your control to bowl the ball? What you can do is excel whenever you get the ball in your hands. Try and keep doing that.
“If it has to happen, one day it will happen. But do what you can control. And if there is something beyond that, let it be.”
But what Badani does want Sai Kishore and Tamil Nadu to have control over is their fast-bowling stocks, and if they don’t take charge of that, their elusive search for a third Ranji Trophy title will stay ‘elusive’ for quite some time.
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